Effect of quantum tunneling on spin Hall magnetoresistance. (29th December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ok, Seulgi; Chen, Wei; Sigrist, Manfred; Manske, Dirk
• Is Part Of: Journal of physics. Volume 29:Number 7(2017)
• Publication Date: 2016-12-29
• Subjects: spin Hall effect -- magnetoresistance -- spin transport effects -- quantum tunneling -- quantum size effect -- spin diffusion; Condensed matter -- Periodicals; Matière condensée -- Périodiques; Vaste stoffen; Vloeistoffen; Natuurkunde; Electronic journals; Computer network resources; 530.4105
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/aa50da
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0953-8984

Abstract

Abstract: We present a formalism that simultaneously incorporates the effect of quantum tunneling and spin diffusion on the spin Hall magnetoresistance observed in normal metal/ferromagnetic insulator bilayers (such as Pt/Y3 Fe5 O12 ) and normal metal/ferromagnetic metal bilayers (such as Pt/Co), in which the angle of magnetization influences the magnetoresistance of the normal metal. In the normal metal side the spin diffusion is known to affect the landscape of the spin accumulation caused by spin Hall effect and subsequently the magnetoresistance, while on the ferromagnet side the quantum tunneling effect is detrimental to the interface spin current which also affects the spin accumulation. The influence of generic material properties such as spin diffusion length, layer thickness, interface coupling, and insulating gap can be quantified in a unified manner, and experiments that reveal the quantum feature of the magnetoresistance are suggested.